<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<!--
 * This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License,
 * v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file, You can
 * obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2005-2014, Peter Johnson (www.delphidabbler.com).
 *
 * Read me file for About Box Component.
-->
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">

<head>

  <title>
    DelphiDabbler About Box Component ReadMe
  </title>

  <style type="text/css">
    body {
      margin: 1em;
      padding: 0;
      font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
      font-size: 9pt;
      line-height: 150%;
    }
    h1 {
      margin: 0 0 1em 0;
      padding: 0.5em;
      border: 1px silver solid;
      background-color: #eee;
      font-size: 13pt;
      font-weight: bold;
      text-align: center;
    }
    h1 .subtitle {
      font-style: italic;
      color: #336;
    }
    h2 {
      margin: 1em 0 0 0;
      padding: 0;
      padding-bottom: 6px;
      border-bottom: 1px silver solid;
      font-size: 11pt;
      font-weight: bold;
    }
    h3 {
      margin: 0.5em 0 0 0;
      padding: 0;
      font-size: 9pt;
      font-weight: bold;
    }
    p {
      margin: 0.5em 0 0 0;
      padding: 0;
    }
    ul, ol {
      margin: 0.5em 0 0 3em;
      padding: 0;
    }
    ul {
      list-style-type: square;
    }
    ul.spaced li,
    ol.spaced li {
      margin-top: 0.5em;
    }
    ul.spaced li,
    ol.spaced li {
      margin-top: 0.5em;
    }
    ul.unspaced li,
    ol.unspaced li {
      margin-top: 0;
    }
    ul.unspaced li.first,
    ol.unspaced li.first {
      margin-top: 0.5em;
    }
    code {
      font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;
    }
    a:link {
      color: #336;
      text-decoration: underline;
    }
    a:visited {
      color: #669;
      text-decoration: underline;
    }
    a:active {
      color: #336;
      text-decoration: underline;
    }
    a:hover {
      text-decoration: underline;
    }
    .gototop {
      margin: 1em 0 0 0;
      padding: 0.3em 0 0 0;
      text-align: center;
      position: relative;
      float: right;
      font-weight: bold;
    }
    .pullout {
      border-left: 8px silver solid;
      background-color: #eee;
      margin: 0.5em 0 0 0;
      padding: 0.25em 0.5em;
      font-style: italic;
    }
    .indent {
      margin-left: 3em;
    }
    .highlight {
      color: #336;
      font-style: italic;
      font-weight: bold;
    }
    .endnotes {
      margin: 1.5em 0 0 0;
      padding: 1em 0 0 0;
      border-top: 1px silver solid;
    }
    .comments {
      font-style: italic;
    }
    .copyright,
    .copyright a:link,
    .copyright a:visited,
    .copyright a:active {
      margin: 1em 0 0 0;
      color: gray;
      font-size: 8pt;
      text-align: right;
    }
  </style>

</head>

<body>

<h1>
  About Box Component<br />
  <span class="subtitle">ReadMe</span>
</h1>

<h2 id="contents">Contents</h2>

<ul>
  <li><a href="#description">Description</a></li>
  <li><a href="#installation">Installation</a></li>
  <li><a href="#demo">Demo Project</a></li>
  <li><a href="#update">Update History</a></li>
  <li><a href="#license">License</a></li>
  <li><a href="#bugs">Bugs and Feature Requests</a></li>
  <li><a href="#author">About the Author</a></li>
</ul>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="description">
  Description
</h2>

<p>
  This non-visual component encapsulates an About Box.
</p>

<p>
  The component has string properties to display five different pieces of
  information in  the about box. These properties are:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <var>Title</var> &ndash; Contents appear in the window title. The default
    value is 'About'.
  </li>
  <li>
    <var>ProgramName</var> &ndash; The name of the program. This is the title of
    the application. The default value is the same as <var>TApplications</var>'s
    <var>Title</var> property.
  </li>
  <li>
    <var>Version</var> &ndash; This version number of the program. Optional
    property &ndash; default is nothing.
  </li>
  <li>
    <var>Copyright</var> &ndash; A copyright message. Optional property &ndash;
    default is nothing.
  </li>
  <li>
    <var>Notes</var> &ndash; Up to three lines of notes. Optional property
    &ndash; default is nothing.
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
  Alternatively, the about box can display information from a VERSIONINFO
  resource included in the program. This is accessed via a linked
  <var>TPJVersionInfo</var> component. The values of the <var>ProgramName</var>,
  <var>Version</var>, <var>Copyright</var> and <var>Notes</var> properties are
  ignored and relevant strings from the program's version information is used in
  their stead.
</p>

<p>
  The dialogue's position can be specified relative to the screen, desktop or
  parent application. The dialogue has a single close button whose appearance
  and position is customised. The About box also displays the program's icon.
  The font used to display dialogue box text can be customised.
</p>

<h3>
  Required component
</h3>

<p>
  <var>TPJAboutBoxDlg</var> requires that a DelphiDabbler <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/software/verinfo"
  >Version Information Component</a> is installed in order to compile.
</p>

<h3>
  Compatibility
</h3>

<p>
  <var>TPJAboutBoxDlg</var> is believed to compile on all Win32 versions of
  Delphi. Earlier versions were tested with Delphi 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 but,
  although every effort has been made to retain backward compatibility, this has
  not been tested for v3.6 and later. The latest version has been tested with
  Delphi 7, 2007, 2009, 2010, XE, and XE2 to XE4. <strong>Note:</strong> Delphi
  1 support was dropped at v3.5.
</p>

<p>
  This component is Windows 64 bit compatible and can be compiled into a 64 bit
  VCL package.
</p>

<p>
  The unit name changed to <code>PJAbout</code> at release 3. Programs using
  earlier releases will need to be modified (or to have an alias set in Delphi's
  Project Options) before being recompiled using the new version.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="installation">
  Installation
</h2>

<div class="pullout">
  <div class="content">
    <strong>Important Note:</strong> If you use any Delphi compiler up to XE4,
    please ensure that you have installed the
    <var><a
      href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/software?id=verinfo"
    >TPJVersionInfo</a></var> component v3.0 or later (v3.3.2 or later
    preferred) <strong>before</strong> installing the about box component.
  </div>
  <div class="content">
    If you are using Delphi XE5 or later you need <var><a
      href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/software?id=verinfo"
    >TPJVersionInfo</a></var> v3.3.2 as a minimum, otherwise the code will not
    compile.
  </div>
</div>

<p>
  <var>TPJAboutBoxDlg</var>, its help files and demo program are supplied in a
  zip file. Before installing you need to extract all the files from the zip
  file, preserving the directory structure. The following files will be
  extracted:
</p>

<ul>
  <li class="first">
    <strong><code>PJAbout.pas</code></strong> &ndash; Component source code.
  </li>
  <li>
    <strong><code>PJAbout.dfm</code></strong> &ndash; Form file containing the
    about box.
  </li>
  <li>
    <strong><code>PJAbout.dcr</code></strong> &ndash; Component palette glyph.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>PJAbout.hlp</code> &ndash; Help file that integrates with the Delphi
    3-7 IDE.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>PJAbout.als</code> &ndash; Keyword file required when integrating the
    help file with Delphi 6 and 7.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>ReadMe.htm</code> &ndash; This read-me file.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>ChangeLog.txt</code> &ndash; Change log.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>MPL-2.txt</code> &ndash; Mozilla Public License v2.0.
  </li>
  <li>
    <code>Documentation.URL</code> &ndash; Short-cut to the component's online
    documentation
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
  In addition to the above files you will find the the source code of a <a
    href="#demo"
  >demo project</a> in the <code>Demo</code> sub-directory.
</p>

<p>
  You can now install the component into the Delphi IDE. The files
  <code>PJAbout.pas</code>, <code>PJAbout.dfm</code> and
  <code>PJAbout.dcr</code> are required to do this (<code>PJAbout.dcr</code> is
  not required for 64 bit packages). For Delphi 3 onwards you must include these
  files in a design time package that is installed into the Delphi IDE. If you
  need help doing this <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/url/install-comp"
  >see here</a>.
</p>

<p>
  Note that the help file included in the download can only integrate with the
  IDE in Delphi 3-7. For information on how to do this, see <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/articles?article=15"
  >this article</a>. Users of other versions of Delphi can either use the help
  file as a stand-alone file (in which case some links won't work) or you can
  use the <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/url/aboutbox-docs"
  >online documentation</a>.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="demo">
  Demo Project
</h2>

<p>
  A demo program is included in the download that can be used to exercise the
  component. This program should be able to be compiled with any version of
  Delphi supported by the component, but this has only been tested in Delphi 7
  or later.
</p>

<p>
  See the read-me file included in the <code>Demo</code> directory for further
  details.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="update">
  Update History
</h2>

<p>
   A complete change log is provided in a text file that is included in the
   download.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="license">
  License
</h2>

<p>
  The <em>About Box Component</em> (<code>PJAbout.pas</code>) is released under
  the terms of the <a
    href="http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/"
  >Mozilla Public License v2.0</a>.
</p>

<p>
  All relevant trademarks are acknowledged.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="bugs">
  Bugs and Feature Requests
</h2>

<p>
  Bugs can be reported or new features requested via the <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/url/ddlib-issues"
  >Issue Tracker</a>.
</p>

<p>
  If no similar report or request has been recorded already, use the <em>New
  Issue</em> link to add a new issue. Please select the most appropriate
  template from the <em>Templates</em> drop down list and add the
  <code>Project-aboutbox</code> label.
</p>

<p class="gototop">
  &raquo; <a href="#contents">Contents</a>
</p>

<h2 id="author">
  About the Author
</h2>

<p>
  I'm Peter Johnson &ndash; a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West
  Wales, UK, writing write mainly in Delphi. My programs and code are available
  from: <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/"
  >http://www.delphidabbler.com/</a>.
</p>

<p>
  I can be <a
    href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/contact"
  >contacted via the website.</a>
</p>

<div class="endnotes">
  <div class="comments">
    Please <a
      href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/contact"
    >let me know</a> if you have any comments about the component, but please
    use the Issue Tracker noted above to report bugs and request new features.
  </div>
  <div class="copyright">
    This document is copyright &copy; 2005-2014, P D Johnson, <a
      href="http://www.delphidabbler.com/"
    >www.delphidabbler.com</a>.
  </div>
</div>

</body>

</html>
